


First Friends

by XFangHeartX



Series: Inuyasha: The Next Tomorrow [4]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Adventure, Chases, Disembowelment, Exploration, F/M, Head Injury, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:36:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5451938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XFangHeartX/pseuds/XFangHeartX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary- In which Ichiro goes to hunt demons in the forest, but instead finds a new friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
> 
> Ayame © Sunrise Studios
> 
> Ichiro and Tsukihime © Me

 It was a sunny afternoon in the village. The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing, and the villagers are carrying on with their peaceful lives…especially a certain half-demon, his priestess wife, and their 4-year-old son, who seemed to have gone missing.  
  
 Inuyasha walked around the yard, his eyes scanning through the bushes and glancing up at the trees, just in case.  
  
 “Oh, Ichiro~!” he called. “Where are you~?”  
  
 Behind the shrubs, Ichiro tried his hardest to stifle his giggling. He knew his old man had very good ears- ears he, himself, had inherited, so one little snicker could easily give himself away.  
  
 “I wonder where Ichiro might be,” Inuyasha said in mock inquisitiveness. “Who knows if I’ll ever find him?”  
  
 Suddenly, the half-demon felt a small weight tackle into his back, nearly causing him to topple over, but as he stood upright, he began to laugh as he whirled around to look over his shoulder to see the giggling face of his son.  
  
 “Now I gotcha!” Ichiro exclaimed.  
  
 “Oh, no!” Inuyasha cried in mock fear. “He’s got me! Somebody help! Hahahahaha!!”  
  
 Sitting on the porch of their little house sits Kagome, watching from afar with a warm smile on her rosy cheeks. She chuckled and shook her head as she watched her husband and son at play. To think, the half-demon had come such a long way from being the temperamental, reclusive, power-hungry dog demon boy that she found pinned to a tree by her pre-incarnation, and now, here he is, married, living amongst humans as his true self, and playing with his- no…their child.  
  
 Inuyasha soon fell down, flat on his stomach with Ichiro still sitting on his back, both of them in a laughing fit.  
  
 “Inuyasha!!”  
  
 The half-demon gasped as he sat up, Ichiro clinging to his back like a baby ape, and as they looked, they saw Miroku approaching, and by the look on his face, he looked to be in a bit of a frenzy.  
  
 “What’s up, Miroku?” Inuyasha asked as he stood up, his son falling off his back, but thankfully landing softly on the grass below.  
  
 “Mantis demon, spotted near the northeastern border of the village!” Miroku answered, pointing behind him. “It’s getting closer as we speak!”  
  
 “Right,” Inuyasha said, preparing to follow the monk, but he then felt a tug on his pants. He looked down and saw Ichiro, looking up at him eagerly.  
  
 “Dad, can I go with you this time?” the young quarter-demon asked. “Please?”  
  
 Inuyasha only groaned.  
  
 “Ichi, we’ve been over this,” he said. “No, no, and no!”  
  
 “Aw, c’mon, Dad!” Ichiro whined. “Please can I go? I wanna help you fight the demon!”  
  
 “And I told you, you’re too young!” Inuyasha argued. “Now go inside and wait with your mother. I’ll be back soon.”  
  
 Ichiro only glared at his father, his cheeks puffed up in a pout, thus causing Inuyasha to roll his eyes before he follows after Miroku. As the men left, Ichiro turned around and sulkily kicks a pebble before he heads back up to the house, where his mother waits.  
  
 “It’s not fair,” he said. “Dad never lets me go with him.”  
  
 “Now, Ichi, don’t be upset,” Kagome said, taking her son by the hand and leading him inside. “Your father’s just looking out for you, that’s all there is. Just wait until you’re a bit bigger. I’m sure your father will let you go demon-hunting with him and your Uncle Miroku by then.”  
  
 “…I guess,” Ichiro muttered.  
  
 Kagome smiled before she gave him a light peck on the cheek, and doing that seemed to cheer him up a bit.  
  
 “There’s the smile,” the priestess said. “Now then, why don’t you help me make some oden so your father will have something to eat when he gets home? I’ll even add those kinchaku pouches you like.”  
  
 “…Okay,” Ichiro answered.  
  
 As Kagome headed to the kitchen to prepare the meal, Ichiro began to follow her until he stopped and looked outside the window.  
 _  
‘…Dad doesn’t think I can handle myself against any demon,’_ he thought.  _‘Well, I’ll show him…I’ll hunt a demon and bring it to him. He’ll be so impressed, he’ll have to take me demon-hunting with him and Uncle Miroku, next time!’_  
  
 “Ichi!” Kagome called. “Are you coming or not?”  
  
 “Y-yes, Mom!” Ichiro called before he hurried into the kitchen.  
  
XXX  
  
 The next day, Inuyasha was heading out again. He and Miroku had already disposed of the mantis demon, but that necessarily mean that the insect was alone. For all they knew, it might’ve brought its friends around, and the village was likely under siege, and thus Miroku and Inuyasha prompted to patrol the village borders, just in case.  
  
 “I’m off, Kagome!” the half-demon called out to his wife as he stepped off the porch.  
  
 “Wait, Inuyasha!” Kagome called as she followed him out, holding a bundle of some sort. “Here. I made you some rice balls. Can’t fight demons on an empty stomach, right?”  
  
 Inuyasha chuckled before he took the rice balls and gave Kagome a quick kiss on the cheek.  
  
 “See you later,” he said before he stashed the bundle away in his robes and then dashed off to meet up with Miroku.  
  
 “Be careful out there!” Kagome called out, waving to him. As soon as he was out of her sight, she turned to head back into the house, only to see Ichiro taking some rice balls from the plate in the middle of the kitchen and stuffing them in a bundle similar to the one his mother just gave to his father.  
  
 “Ichi?” the priestess asked, getting her son’s attention. “What are you doing? What do you need all those rice balls for?”  
  
 Ichiro put the bundle in his shirt before turning to his mother and saying “I’m just going out to hunt demons.”  
  
 Kagome opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped herself, and soon after, an almost playful smile appeared on her features.  
  
 “Alright, Ichi,” she said. “Just be home by dinner.”  
  
 “I will!” Ichiro answered as he scampered passed his mother and out of the house, heading towards the wooded area where he and Inuyasha would often play. Kagome stood, watching until he disappeared beyond the shrubs, before heading back inside to finish the chores.  
  
 “Kids these days come up with the silliest games,” she said to herself.  
  
XXX  
  
 In the woods, Ichiro stood under the shade of the trees, his pricked up ears twitching at the sounds of larks chirping and the leaves in the branches rustling in the breeze.  
  
 “Okay,” the 4-year-old quarter demon said to himself. “If I were Dad, how would I look for demons?”  
  
 He paused for a moment before pounding a fist into his palm.  
  
 “I know!” he said. “Dad would sniff ‘em out!”  
  
 With that, he soon dropped down on all fours and began to take whiffs of the grass. Unlike his father slow and steady sniffing, Ichiro’s was more…erratic, to say the least, but somehow, he managed to get the job done, more or less.  
  
 “Aha!” he exclaimed as he stood up. “A scent! There must be demons nearby!”  
  
 With that, he headed further into the woods, excitedly.  
  
 “Just you wait, Dad!” he said. “Once you see the demon I catch, you and Uncle Miroku will have no choice but to take me with you when you go demon hunting!”  
  
XXX  
  
 “Ah…ahh…AAAACHOO!!!”  
  
 Inuyasha sneezed as he sat on the fence with Miroku standing next to him, looking at the rice ball in his hand with slight disgust.  
  
 “Well…it’s not like I was very hungry, anyway,” the monk grumbled as he reluctantly tossed the snack, now covered with a light sauce from Inuyasha’s sneeze, away.  
  
 “Sorry,” Inuyasha said, rubbing his nose with his sleeve. “I think someone’s talking about me, again. I don’t think I’m used to being this popular yet.”  
  
XXX  
  
 Meanwhile, in the mountains, far away from the village…  
  
 “YOU IDIOTS!!!”  
 **  
BONK!!**  
  
 “OUCH!!!”  
  
 Ginta and Hakkaku groaned as they held their heads, nursing the large, red bumps that formed. As they looked up, they are soon met with an intense, furious glare from none other than Koga.  
  
 “I leave for only five minutes,” the Wolf Demon Clan leader spoke, “and when I come back, you tell me you lost her?! Incompetent fools!!”  
  
 “But Koga,” Ginta started, “Ayame told you to watch her, not us!”  
  
 “Yeah, so if anything, it’s your fault, too!” Hakkaku added, only to flinch, expecting another punch.  
  
 “…You’re right,” Koga sighed, much to the relief of his two subordinates. “Dammit, we gotta find her before Ayame gets back from collecting herbs, or she’ll skin me alive!”  
  
 “Koga?”  
  
 The wolf demon froze before he turned and saw his mate, Ayame, who held a bundle of herbs and berries in her arms with 2 white wolves standing behind her.  
  
 “What’s going on?” the she-wolf asked.  
  
 “…Oh, man,” Koga muttered with a look of dread.  
  
XXX  
  
 Back in the woods, Ichiro is still out searching for demons. He searched high in the trees and low on the ground, only to find nothing more than squirrels, birds, monkeys, rabbits, deer, and boars. In spite of this, he seemed to enjoy himself, exploring the wide world around him, marveling at new sights and smells, and of course, there were times he would…well…heed the call of nature, so to speak. Once that was done, the boy braved even further distances, far away from his humble village in the Musashi Province, and as he broke through the trees, he momentarily shielded his eyes from the sunlight before letting them adjust. As he opened his eyes again, he gasped in awe at the view before him: a wide, rocky gorge that seemed to split straight through the forest. It was almost like a giant, gaping mouth full of sharp teeth with crows flying in and out, and Ichiro could’ve sworn he saw one of them holding a bone in its beak.  
  
 Gulping nervously, the quarter-demon turned and headed onward, going back into the forest to continue his search. As he did, he felt his tummy rumble slightly in hunger. It was at that moment that Ichiro it must be about mid-day by now. Luckily, he remembered to pack himself a little lunch. Sitting down on a rock, Ichiro pulled out the bundle of rice balls he took from the house, and began to eat.  
  
 “So far, I’ve had no luck finding any demons,” he said to himself as he took a bite. “I hope I find one before sundown. It’ll be harder to find my way back home in the dark.”  
  
 As Ichiro ate, he suddenly hears the sound of a twig snapping. He gasps as he turns around, his ears perked up.  
  
 “…Can it be?” he whispered as he crouched down low, almost like a prowling predator, before he emerges through the foliage and ends up in a small clearing, surrounded by tall, broad trees, bushes with white flowers blossoming, and a few rocks here and there. In the middle of it is a shadowy figure of some kind, making some sort of munching sound.  
  
 Ichiro gasped as he hid behind a tree, shaking slightly.  
 _  
‘A demon!’_  he thought.  _‘I finally found one! Now all I have to do is fight it and capture it, and I’ll prove to my Dad that I’m good enough!’  
_  
 With that, he soon came out of his hiding spot, standing tall and proud, as his father would when confronting a foe.  
  
 “All right, demon!” Ichiro shouted. “Turn around and face me!”  
  
 The figure paused before turning around, revealing itself to be what looked like an ordinary human girl, about the same as Ichiro himself, if not a few months older, dressed up in an orchid-colored shirt with a pale rose circle pattern on it and her waist is covered by some kind of white fur pelt, as well as turquoise eyes and dark brown with an iris flower on it. What most stuck out though was the fact that she has a fluffy, dark brown tail, pointy ears, and fingernails so long that they looked like claws.  
  
 In her mouth, Ichiro could make out the tail of a rodent, which she quickly slurped up like a noodle and swallowed.  
  
 “What?” asked the girl.  
  
 “You’re coming with me!” Ichiro declared. “I’m taking you back to my village!”  
  
 As soon as he said this, the girl’s expression went from confused and curious to confused and angry.  
  
 “Says who?!” she asked, a bit of sassiness in her voice.  
  
 “Says me!” Ichiro barked. “Now c’mon! I’m taking you home to my Dad, Inuyasha!”  
  
 “Inuyasha?” asked the girl. “That mutt?”  
  
 Ichiro growled at this. No one, no matter how old they are, insulted his father in front of his face…although he mentally wondered how the girl knew about Inuyasha in the first place.  
  
 “Don’t call my Dad a mutt, Wolf-Face!” shouted Ichiro.  
  
 “Oh, yeah?” the girl questioned, a smirk on her face. “My Dad could take on yours any day, and I bet he’d kick his sorry butt.”  
  
 “Take that back!” Ichiro barked. “My Dad could beat your Dad with his eyes closed!”  
  
 “Can not!” the girl shouted  
  
 “Can too!” Ichiro shouted back.  
  
 “Can not!!”  
  
 “Can too!!”  
  
 “CAN NOT!!!”  
  
 “CAN TOO!!!”  
  
 The wolf girl growled viciously, not like the kind of humans. No, this growl actually sounded like some kind of an animal. It actually did startle Ichiro a bit, but he only responded with an unearthly growl of his own, but before he knew it, he was suddenly tackled, and the two youngsters grappled each other, kicking up dirt and dust, and as Ichiro pushed the girl, he attempted to tackle her again, but just as it seemed he was about to pin her down, she seemed to kick her legs up against his stomach, causing them both to flip over until Ichiro suddenly himself with his back against the ground and the girl’s hands on his shoulders, holding him in place.  
  
 “Hee-hee!” she giggled. “Pinned ya!”  
  
(A/N: You gotta love The Lion King. XD)  
  
 “Huh?” Ichiro muttered in shock before he struggled to get out of her grip. “Hey! Get off of me!”  
  
 The girl obliged as she stepped away, allowing the quarter-demon to stand.  
  
 “That’s not fair!” he shouted, pointing accusingly at the girl. “I wasn’t ready yet!”  
  
 “Fine,” the girl said, her hands on her hips. “I’ll give you another shot. Come and get me.”  
  
 Ichiro growled before he lunged at the girl once again, both of them tussling on the ground. The girl seemed to laugh for a moment, that is until Ichiro bit her arm, causing her to yelp more out of shock than pain.  
  
 “Hey! That hurts!” she shouted before she punched Ichiro in the face.  
  
 “Ow!” Ichiro cried before he growled even more, both of them kicking, biting, scratching and throwing punches, but as their little roughhousing went on, there was less grunting and yelling and more laughter.  
  
 It soon ended with the girl pinning Ichiro down, once again.  
  
 “Pinned ya, again,” she said, proudly.  
  
 Ichiro only rolled his eyes before he gently pushed his adversary off.  
  
 “Fine,” he said. “Let’s call it a draw, for now.”  
  
 “Why?” asked the girl. “I pinned you down twice.”  
  
 “Sure, whatever,” Ichiro said.  
  
 The girl pouted a bit, but then giggled.  
  
 “I gotta admit,” she said, “for someone who’s not a full demon like me, you’re pretty good at rough-and-tumble stuff.”  
  
 “You’re not too bad, either,” Ichiro replied, “for a girl, that is.”  
  
 “I’m just gonna let that slide, for now,” the girl quipped before they both laughed.  
  
XXX  
  
 “Ichiro~! Ichiro Higurashi!”  
  
 Kagome stood in the front yard of the house, looking around. It was mid-afternoon and Ichiro hadn’t come back yet, much to the worrying mother’s unease.  
  
 “Where is that boy?” she asked as she walked out further. “He should’ve been home by now!”  
  
 “Kagome?”  
  
 The priestess turned to see her husband approach, having just gotten back from patrolling the border.  
  
 “Inuyasha!” Kagome exclaimed.  
  
 “Is everything okay?” asked Inuyasha. “You’re looking a bit panicky.”  
  
 “It’s Ichiro,” Kagome replied. “He left the house earlier this morning, but he hasn’t come back yet.”  
  
 “What?” Inuyasha asked, surprised. “Are you sure?”  
  
 “I think he said he was going off to hunt demons,” Kagome started, “but I didn’t think…that…he would…” She trailed off before she looked up at Inuyasha, who glowered down at her with a deadpanned expression.  
  
 “I think you should go get your bow and arrows,” the half-demon suggested in a slightly annoyed tone. Kagome groaned as she went into the house.  
  
 “Where did I go wrong?” she murmured.  
  
XXX  
  
 Back in the forest, Ichiro and the wolf demon girl walked down the path together.  
  
 “So your name is Tsukihime, huh?” asked Ichiro, his hands behind his head.  
  
 “Yep,” Tsukihime answered. “I get that name because I was born under a full moon, one winter night. That’s why my Mom and Dad named me ‘Tsukihime’.”  
  
 “It’s…kinda pretty,” said Ichiro, his face flushing a bright pink.  
  
 “Thanks,” said Tsukihime, her face also blushing a bit. “My Dad thinks so, too.”  
  
 “So…your name has hime in it,” Ichiro said. “Does that mean you’re a princess or something?”  
  
 “You could say that,” Tsukihime answered. “Since my Mom and Dad lead the Wolf Demon Clan and I’m their firstborn child, I’m actually next in line be the next leader when I get bigger.”  
  
 “That’s kinda cool,” Ichiro commented.  
  
 “Yeah, but it can be a bit of a pain, sometimes,” said Tsukihime. “Sometimes, I feel bored with lessons, so I leave the den every now and again…even though I’m not supposed to.”  
  
 “Is that why you came out here in the woods?” asked Ichiro. “To have some time to yourself?”  
  
 “Yeah,” Tsukihime answered. “I was hoping to get a little hunting done, too.”  
  
 “…You know,” Ichiro started, “if you want something different to eat, you can always come down to my village. My Mom makes great food!”  
  
 “Really?” Tsukihime asked.  
  
 “Yeah!” Ichiro answered. “She makes really great oden and red bean mochi soup! Ooh! And she also has these ninja noodles that you add hot water too!”  
  
 “I don’t normally eat human food,” said the wolf demon girl, “but I guess it couldn’t hurt.”  
  
 Ichiro smiled at Tsukihime, who smiled back at him, but as she looked ahead, her smile soon fell and she froze on the spot.  
  
 “Hey, what’s the matter, Tsukihime?” Ichiro asked, confused.  
  
 When she didn’t answer him, her eyes transfixed on the sight before her with slight horror. As Ichiro followed her gaze, he soon saw the reason why: a deer carcass, its stomach ripped open by huge fangs and claws, leaving its internal organs in full view of the children, and around it are large, grey feathers littering the ground, as well as stains of blood…and it was still fresh.  
  
 Ichiro felt like gagging. Never in all his 4 years of life has he seen so much blood and guts.  
  
 “W…what just happened here?” the boy asked as he looked to Tsukihime, who had started to back away.  
  
 “Run…!” she whispered.  
  
 “Huh?” Ichiro muttered, his ears twitching. “What’d you say?”  
  
 “Run!” Tsukihime cried.  
  
 “Run?” Ichiro repeated, a look of worry on his face. “Why?!”  
  
 “JUST RUN, OKAY?!!” the wolf demon girl shouted before she turned and ran, actually dropping down on all fours and galloping off like a regular wolf, much like how Shippo runs.  
  
 “Wait! Come back!” Ichiro called. “What are we supposed to be running from?!”  
  
  **SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~!!!  
**  
 As that screech sounded off, Ichiro looked up and gasped in horror at the sight of a giant, bird-like creature. It had the wings and talons of a hawk, but it had no beak, just a large, vicious face, and on top of its crown is a bluish-green, imp-like creature with talons for hands, and it seemed to be attached to the monster from the waist, and as the hodgepodge beast swooped down, Ichiro realized…it was coming for him!  
  
 “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!” he screamed as he narrowly dodged the talons of the avian creature before he turned and joined Tsukihime in fleeing. “WHAT IS THAT THING?!”  
  
 “A Bird-of-Paradise!” Tsukihime answered as she ran. “My Mom and Dad used to fight those things a lot! They eat a lot of things, but they mostly like to eat wolf demons!!”  
  
 As the kids ran, they burst through the bushes, only to stop and gasp as they realized that they are now standing right at the edge of the gorge.  
  
 “What do we now?!” asked Tsukihime.  
  
 As the wretched screeching was heard again, the two turned to see the Bird-of-Paradise prepare to swoop down on them once again.  
  
 “Looks like we’ve got no choice!” said Ichiro. “JUMP!!”  
  
 With that, the two leapt down towards the gorge, tumbling down and down and down, grunting in pain the whole way. Before too long, they landed at the bottom, but as they did, Tsukihime’s forehead connected with a rock…and the result wasn’t pretty.  
  
 The young wolf demon groaned as she soon fell limp, blood seeping from a deep gash on her forehead. Ichiro, however, somehow managed to stand up with only a few scratches and minor bruises, but when he saw Tsukihime, he gasped in horror upon seeing her bleeding forehead.  
  
 “Tsukihime!!” he cried as he ran over to her. He tried to shake her awake, but it was no use. She was out like a light, not to mention she was bleeding profusely.  
  
  _‘Not good,’_  he thought.  _‘I gotta get that wound bandaged and get Tsukihime outta here!’  
_  
 With that, he bit onto his sleeve and tore some of it, then wrapped around Tsukihime’s head like a bandage. He then picked her up and held her upon his back, piggyback style. She appeared to be quite heavy, but he didn’t seem to be having any problem with carrying her this way.  
  
 “Here we go,” Ichiro said as he began to walk, carrying the little wolf demon as he did. “Hang in there, Tsukihime.”  
  
XXX  
  
 Concurrently, Inuyasha is seen, down on all fours as he sniffed the forest floor while Kagome followed after him.  
  
 “Do you have his scent Inuyasha?” Kagome asked.  
  
 “Yeah,” Inuyasha answered. “He’s been through here, all right. Still fresh, too.” He then stood up and turned to face his wife. “How could you let our 4-year-old son go off on his own like that?!”  
  
 “Excuse me?!” Kagome questioned, crossing her arms. “How was I supposed to know he was actually serious about that?! I thought he was just playing a game!”  
  
 “Oh, I’m so sure,” Inuyasha said, but then froze as his nose twitched. He sniffed the air, and a glare soon appeared in his golden eyes, to Kagome’s concern.  
  
 “What?” she asked. “Do you smell something?”  
  
 “Yeah,” Inuyasha answered. “It’s a wolf.”  
  
 “A wolf?” Kagome repeated. “Well, that’s not too surprising. I mean, there are lots of wolves in the forest.”  
  
 “Yeah, but this isn’t your run-of-the-mill wolf,” Inuyasha rebuked. “This scent…it’s familiar. I’d know that disgusting stench anywhere.”  
  
 “Well, you’re not exactly a breath of fresh air, yourself, Mutt!”  
  
 Kagome gasped, for she could recognize of that gruff baritone.  
  
 “Koga?!” she asked, and not long after, a whirlwind seemed to before hers and Inuyasha’s eyes, but it soon dissipates, revealing Koga.  
  
 “Hey,” the older wolf demon greeted. “Long time, no see.”  
  
 “What are you doing here?” Inuyasha asked, bluntly.  
  
 “Relax, Mutt,” Koga said. “I’m no longer interested in Kagome. I’m spoken for.”  
  
 “Then get the hell out of the way,” Inuyasha spat. “Can’t you see we’re busy?”  
  
 “Sounds like you’re looking for trouble, there,” Koga said. “If you want, I’ll be more than happy to give you a thrashing!”  
  
 “Koga!!”  
  
 Koga flinched before he turned and saw Ayame, who walked up to the group and put her hands upon her hips.  
  
 “Will you knock it off, already?!” she asked. “This is no time to be fighting! This is an emergency!”  
  
 “Uh…right,” Koga said.  
  
 “What’s wrong?” Kagome asked.  
  
 “Koga and I are looking for our daughter,” Ayame answered. “You wouldn’t have happened to see her, would you?”  
  
 “We’d tell if we knew what she looked like,” Kagome admitted.  
  
 “We’d like to help, but we’ve got our own problem, right now,” Inuyasha interjected. “Our son’s gone missing, too.”  
  
 “Your son?” Ayame asked.  
  
 “Yeah,” Inuyasha answered. “Thanks to a certain someone, he wandered off on his own.”  
  
 Kagome growled, shooting a glare at her husband.  
  
 “Inuyasha, sit boy!!” she shouted.  
 **  
BAM!!**  Inuyasha cried out as the Beads of Subjugation pulled him downward, face-first into the ground.  
  
 “Guh…!” he groaned before he pulled his face out of the dirt, spitting out grass and soil out of his mouth. “Seriously, Kagome?!”  
  
 “Yes, seriously,” Kagome glared. “Want me to say it, again?”  
  
 “…No thanks,” Inuyasha muttered, nervously.  
  
 “That’s what I thought,” the priestess said.  
  
 “Whipped,” Koga said with a smirk.  
  
 “What was that?!” Inuyasha questioned as he stood up.  
  
 “You heard me!!” Koga barked before they soon started tussling.  
  
 “Boys! Boys!!” Ayame shouted. “Stop it!! Our children are missing!!”  
  
 “Oh, right!” the men realized.  
  
 “I have an idea,” Kagome said. “Since both our kids are missing, why don’t we help each other?”  
  
 “I couldn’t agree more,” Ayame agreed. “The more eyes there are, the better.”  
  
 “…This doesn’t mean I have to like you,” Inuyasha said, glaring at Koga.  
  
 “The feeling’s mutual,” said Koga.  
  
XXX  
  
 The sun has begun to set…and Ichiro and Tsukihime are still trapped in the gorge. By now, it seemed that the former had finally begun to tire out.  
  
 Luckily, though, it seemed he had finally found a way out of the gorge, too: a steep incline.  
  
 “Unh…!” Tsukihime groaned as her eyes began to flutter open.  
  
 “Tsukihime!” Ichiro exclaimed. “Are you okay?”  
  
 “Yeah…I think so,” said Tsukihime. “What happened?”  
  
 “That Bird-of-Paradise chased us and we fell down this gorge,” Ichiro answered. “You hit your head on a rock and got knocked out. Good news, though! I found a way out! We just have to climb this slope!”  
  
 Tsukihime looked up at the incline, but then she gasped as she saw a familiar shadow in the sky.  
  
 “Uh…Ichiro?” she asked.  
  
 “What?” asked Ichiro before he looked up as well, only to cry out in shock as he saw the Bird-of-Paradise swoop down towards them. “AAAAAAAAHHH!!! THAT BIRD THING IS BACK!!!”  
  
 “Quick! In there!!” Tsukihime cried as she pointed towards a crack in the rocky wall, just big enough for them to squeeze into.  
  
 Wasting no time, Ichiro ran for the crevice and ducked inside with the wolf demon girl in tow, just as the beastly bird demon almost had them both in its talons. However, now it was blocking their only escape. It screeched and roared as it tried to reach for the children, and it looked like it was only a matter of time before it succeeded.  
  
 “Not good,” Tsukihime said. “We’re trapped.”  
  
 “What are we gonna do?!” Ichiro asked.  
 _  
‘Mom…Dad…!’_  he thought. _‘Wherever you are…please help…!’  
_  
 Just then, something shot through the air, and then pierced the flesh of the demon, which squawked in pain as it flew upwards, revealing an arrow pierced just below its wing, but not close or deep enough to the joint.  
  
 “Is that…an arrow?” Tsukihime asked, and Ichiro gasped.  
  
 “It’s my Mom!!” he exclaimed.  
  
 Soon enough, Kagome appeared, along with Ayame.  
  
 “And my Mom, too!” Tsukihime exclaimed as they both ran to their respective mothers, who soon brought them into their loving embrace.  
  
 “Ichi!” Kagome exclaimed.  
  
 “Tsukihime, my precious!” Ayame said happily.  
  
 “We were so worried!” they both said.  
  
 “I’m sorry, Mom,” Ichiro said. “Really.”  
  
 “Me, too,” said Tsukihime.  
  
 But it seemed too soon to celebrate, for the Bird-of-Paradise began to make one last swoop at them.  
  
 “AAH!!” the kids cried as they hid behind their mothers, who stood at the ready, until…  
  
 “OH, NO YOU DON’T!!” Koga shouted as he landed a powerful kick to the monster’s face. “Pick on someone your own size, birdbrain!!!”  
  
 As the Bird-of-Paradise was sent flying, a familiar shadow leapt up, holding a mighty blade.  
  
 “RAAAAAAARRRRGH!!!” Inuyasha roared as he landed the finishing blow, slicing the demon completely in half.  
  
 “All right, Dad!” Ichiro cheered,  
  
 Soon, the two fathers landed on the ground, Inuyasha sheathing the Tetsusaiga.  
  
 “Not too shabby, there,” Koga mused.  
  
 “I guess I can say the same about you,” Inuyasha smirked.  
  
 As the excitement started to die down, Kagome looked over Ichiro’s and Tsukihime’s wounds.  
  
 “Oh, dear,” said Kagome. “Look at you two. Looks like you guys into quite a scrape.”  
  
 “…Mom?” Ichiro asked. “Could you look at Tsukihime’s forehead first, please? She’s hurt worse than I am.”  
  
 The adults and even Tsukihime seemed surprised at this.  
  
 “Ichiro…!” Kagome whispered before she smiled. “Okay.”  
  
 Ichiro smiled as he watched his mother tend to Tsukihime’s head injury. She used a special ointment she made with some medicinal herbs to stop the bleeding, and then bandaged the wound properly. However, she told Ayame and Koga that because of the deepness of the injury, it is highly likely that Tsukihime was going to get a scar. The wolf demon family didn’t seem to mind it. In fact, Tsukihime seemed almost elated at the fact.  
  
 With that, the families went their separate ways, heading home for a good night’s rest.  
  
 Also, Ichiro was punished with no dessert for a whole week…and it was extended to 2 weeks for whining.  
  
XXX  
  
 A few days later, Ichiro is home safe and sound in the village. He had decided that he would wait at least a few more years until he thought he was ready to go demon hunting again. Until then, he was more happy to just stay home with his parents.  
  
 As he helped Kagome sweep the floor of the house, Ichiro’s ears twitched as he heard someone knock on the door.  
  
 “Huh?” he muttered.  
  
 “Well, who could that be?” asked Kagome before she opened the door, and as she looked down, she saw that it was Tsukihime, who smiled up at her. On her forehead is a lightning bolt-shaped scar. The 4-year-old wolf demon bowed her head before looking up at the priestess.  
  
 “Thank you so much for helping me!” she said.  
  
 Kagome chuckled at this.  
  
 “You’re welcome, dear,” she said. “Would you like to come in? I can make you some tea.”  
  
 “Mm-hmm,” Tsukihime nodded as she entered the house with Kagome, and upon noticing Ichiro, her smile grew wider. “Hi, Ichi!”  
  
 “Oh! Hi, Tsukihime!” Ichiro greeted her. “What’re you doing here?”  
  
 “I just thought I’d come and visit you,” said Tsukihime. “How are you doing?”  
  
 “I’m okay,” Ichiro answered before glancing at her forehead. “That’s a cool scar.”  
  
 “Thanks,” Tsukihime grinned. “I like it, too. By the way, Ichi…I wanted to say thank you for saving my life.”  
  
 “Yeah, well,” Ichiro started, “I knew your mom and dad would be sad if something happened to you. My Mom and Dad would be the same way.”  
  
 Kagome smiled at this.  
  
 “Oh, Ichiro,” she said, a feeling of pride in her chest.  
  
 “So…I guess this means you and me are friends now, right?” Ichiro asked.  
  
 “Yup!” Tsukihime answered, a toothy grin on her plump cheeks. “Best friends!”  
  
 Ichiro beamed warmly, just as Inuyasha appeared from around the corner.  
  
 “Hey, it’s Tsukihime!” the half-demon exclaimed upon noticing her. “How’re you doin’ these days, kiddo?”  
  
 “I’m just fine,” Tsukihime started, “Mr. Mutt!”  
 **  
IRK!!**  Inuyasha froze, a vein pulsing on his forehead, but then he seethed as he began to regain his composure.  
  
 “That’s…good,” he said through gritted teeth. “Just peachy…!”  
 _  
‘Just what I need,’_  he thought.  _‘Another smart aleck wolf!’  
_  
 Ichiro and Tsukihime only laughed while Kagome smiled sheepishly. After what happened that day, her son had made himself a new best friend…even if she is a bit like her husband’s old rival.  
 **  
THE END**


End file.
